Firestarter – Movie Review
Director: Keith Thomas
Writer: Scott Teems (Screenplay)
Writer: Stephen King (Novel)
Cast
- Zac Efron (The Greatest Showman)
- Ryan Kiera Armstrong (The Tomorrow War)
- Sydney Lemmon (Tar)
- Michael Greyeyes (Blood Quantum)
- Gloria Reuben (Lincoln)
Plot: A young girl tries to understand how she mysteriously gained the power to set things on fire with her mind.
Runtime: 1 Hour 34 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Firestarter starts as we meet Andy (Efron), Vicky (Lemmon) and their daughter Charlie (Armstrong). They have moved around a lot, with Charlie about to start a new school. Andy tends to keep her under control, with his ‘Pushing’ ability. Charlie can lose control and start fires with uncontrollable side effects.
This starts to flare up at school, as Charlie has an incident. Andy is forced to go into hiding with Charlie, as Rainbird (Greyeyes) leads the hunt for them. he is hired by the company that created them to make genetic modifications, leading to a devastating series of events, as Charlie struggles with controlling her powers.
Verdict on Firestarter
Firestarter is a horror mystery remake of the 1984 Stephen King story. It follows a young girl that has an unwanted ability to start fires when she loses control. This sees her draw attention to her family who is in hiding, as the people who created her come in search of her.
After the recent run of Stephen King novels being remade, this one comes up short compared to the others. It keeps the core side to the story with us, only it doesn’t seem to be as intense as it could be. despite Charlie not being able to control her powers. There isn’t a disturbing consequence scene, which you feel could have a massive impact on the story. The performances in the film are fine, where Ryan Keira Armstrong is the highlight of the performances.
Final Thoughts – Firestarter is a remake that doesn’t click on the levels of other Stephen King reimaginations.